Some suggestions, mostly quality of life, obvious things

[chocomaid]

"Unable to equip gear. Retainer is currently occupied".

With some kind of power, we can alter the items that a retainer has, both the things you can withdraw and deposit as well as market board listings when they are "occupied". But somehow, when it comes to gear, it's suddenly unavailale.

Can we equip/unequip gear on our lovely retainers when they are occupied, as we do with withdrawing, depositing and sales?

[mbncd]

"Unable to equip gear. Retainer is currently occupied". [Snip]

I believe the potential issue with this is that gear has an effect on what the retainer brings home. Better gear = a better chance at rarer items. If you get the last piece of gear to push the retainer's iLvl up to the next tier, should the items brought back represent the original gear or the updated gear level? I think the item should be chosen the instant the venture is selected (if it isn't already) and that would mean the new gear wouldn't have any effect on that run, but at the same time you won't have the bad memory sequences I ran into often of "send the retainer off, remember just after he's gone that I had something new for him to wear, try to remember next time, forget next time, rinse and repeat for a few days...".

[chocomaid]

I think the item should be chosen the instant the venture is selected...

Definitely no problems with that at all! Similar to your experience, I get an item my retainer can use, retainer is still in a venture, I tell myself I'll do it later, I forget, I run a dungeon/raid some other time, that same item drops and I can't roll on it cause I still have it in my bags cause I didn't put it on my retainer.

[Edeline]

[I]Can we equip/unequip gear on our lovely retainers when they are occupied, as we do with withdrawing, depositing and sales?

People would abuse that. Equip a retainer with HA/soldiery and make it 110, send it for a venture and get back your gear and wear it yourself again, everytime.

[chocomaid]

People would abuse that. Equip a retainer with HA/soldiery and make it 110, send it for a venture and get back your gear and wear it yourself again, everytime.

Easy to give it restrictions too. Every part of the game has restrictions. But to name a few that just popped into my head:
1. End reward is based on initial ilvl or final decreased ilvl achieved.
2. Any action that increases ilvl/gathering/etc of a retainer during the venture will have no effect. Subsequent changes will take effect on the next venture assigned.
3. Any action that decreases ilvl/gathering/etc of a retainer during the venture will affect the result. The end reward will be based on the lowest ilvl achieved in the duration of the venture.